Category: issues

And arts teachers in public schools are creative, no doubt about it. One middle school teacher quickly “created online tutorials on how to make art supplies at home, like glue and paint, from materials that could be found in a kitchen or recycling bin. She delivered content to her student by using her classroom’s Instagram and YouTube accounts, posting videos and images on topics like community art.” Music teachers do the same, with berry containers and rubber bands. It’s not easy. – Oregon ArtsWatch

“As some Bay Area artists and producers take tentative steps toward reopening, The Chronicle Datebook team is wrestling with new ethical questions: Is it responsible for an in-person event to take place? How do we cover that news in responsible ways? Senior Arts and Entertainment Editor Mariecar Mendoza got to discussing this with theater critic Lily Janiak, classical music critic Joshua Kosman and pop music critic Aidin Vaziri, exploring how they approach their jobs in the coronavirus era.” – San Francisco Chronicle

Michelle Goldberg: “When I think back, from my obviously privileged position, on the texture of daily life during the past four years, all the attention sucked up by this black hole of a president has been its own sort of loss. Every moment spent thinking about Trump is a moment that could have been spent contemplating, creating or appreciating something else. Trump is a narcissistic philistine, and he bent American culture toward him.” – The New York Times

“It would be easy to dismiss a surfeit of depressed artists as the most minor of national considerations, given the loss of jobs across the spectrum, but it is important to examine how we got to this point, and why there should be an onus on our politicians to take more care in their consideration of our collective fate.” – MAX

“Starting Friday, France will go into a nationwide lockdown with just schools and essential businesses staying open until Dec. 1, while in Germany, the new measures will close restaurants, bars, gyms and cultural spaces like theaters for one month, but exempt schools and shops.” – The New York Times

San Francisco has set up free hubs. So far, 1,100 students are enrolled in the free hubs, where community groups provide full-time academic support and activities at 55 city sites, including recreation centers, libraries and other locations. – San Francisco Chronicle

Originally posited as a “suit over artistic freedom,” the case quickly turned into a question of equal protection (performances vis-a-vis church services and political protests), and then into a debate over logistics. – San Francisco Classical Voice

“Crafting laughs is the most high-stakes form of creation. It is intrinsically difficult, as ‘funny’ varies from person to person in a way that ‘sad’ or ‘romantic’ just doesn’t. Plus, it is a medium that demands success, because a failed gag is excruciating, like OK-ish results in other artforms never will be.” – The Guardian

In 2012 after the murder of Trayvon Martin my only employee at the time, a Black male, called to tell me that he was scared to leave his home, but didn’t want to let me down by not showing up to work. I told him to please take care of himself and to not worry then hung up. That conversation was a turning point for me. – WESTAF

With the country setting new daily records for infections, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has ordered that movie theaters, concert halls, opera houses, live theaters, and gyms (which include dance schools) must shut down completely until at least November 24. – Variety